Rich Hofmann

DAILY NEWS SPORTS EDITOR

The Eagles frankly looked awful Sunday in losing to the Giants, 29-16. Every team looks lousy at times in the NFL, but things are getting way too interesting, way too early for this team. The Eagles lost a game they should have won last week in Atlanta and they lost a game they should have won against the battered Giants. All of which means that we all might have to reassess our expectations.

Oh, and Michael Vick is hurt again.

Last week, it was a concussion. This week, it is a broken right hand. Yes, it is his non-throwing hand -- but it is hard to imagine he would be able to play with it. All of which means that Mike Kafka will be the guy in charge of stabilizing this unsteady ship -- that is, unless the two interceptions Kafka threw in the fourth quarter disqualified him from this game of quarterback roulette.

Which means, Vince Young? Or not?

Everybody figured the Giants would try to run the ball at the Eagles' suspect linebacking corps, and they did run it well. But the Giants scored four touchdowns on passing plays -- and, along the way, Eagles mistakes littered the field.

Brandon Jacobs scored on a 40-yard catch and run, a plan in which linebacker Casey Matthews over-committed on a play fake and watched as Jacobs ran by him. Later, Victor Cruz scored on a 74-yard pass from Eli Manning in which safety Kurt Coleman and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugah both had shots at Cruz after the catch but failed to bring him down.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Cruz caught a 24-yard touchdown pass in which he out-fought Asomugah and Jarrad Page for the ball. Later, it was Ahmad Bradshaw on an 18-yarder that provided the awful punctuation.

Given Vick's injury, it is hard to argue that the defense is the day's bigger concern. Still, this wasn't supposed to happen. This was supposed to have been fixed. They were going to give up rushing yards, yes, but not these kinds of big passing plays.

As for the offense, maybe because Vick was coming off of a concussion or maybe because he seemed a little timid or maybe because Shady McCoy was on fire, but the Eagles went with a ground-oriented attack for the first time in forever. McCoy was over 100 yards in the third quarter and finished with 128 yards on 24 carries.

But the Eagles were stuffed near the goal line on one series where we all saw way too much of fullback Owen Schmitt. They also failed to convert a fourth-and-1 at the 43-yard line in early stages of the fourth quarter.